Biznik Blog

I received this email this morning from member Nancy Ferrell:

Hi Dan,

I wonder if Biznik might be able to arrange to accommodate business owners with disabilities?

For example, I referred Vicki Moseley to Biznik. She is hearing impaired and her business is coaching other business owners and their employees to work effectively with hearing impaired employees and clients/customers. She has worked with Microsoft, Starbucks, and other large companies to integrate hearing impaired employees and better serve hearing impaired customers, and she also works with small businesses, nonprofits and government agencies.

Vicki reads lips and is a very effective presenter (she speaks well) however, at Biznik workshops or networking events she would need an interpreter because, of course, only one pair of lips can be read at a time, and in a larger room, she wouldn’t always be close enough or face-to-face with the presenter and couldn’t hear input from the rest of the group. The presenter would have to spend the whole time facing her directly, which wouldn’t allow them to interact with the rest of the participants.

Interpreters generally do not work for free, and she cannot afford to bring her own interpreter to every event so she was disappointed that she may not be able to network effectively with Biznik.

Has there been any talk of making interpreters available at Biznik events, if requested by a member who has registered and paid the fee? Or to have one available at happy hours if requested in advance?

I’m guessing if there is one hearing-impaired business owner who needs this, there must be others as well.

Many thanks,
Nancy Ferrell
Home Computing Coach

So, my question to the group is: Is there a sign language interpreter in the group who would be interested in attending events with Vicki? If so, please drop me a line and we’ll work something out – we will be happy to offer free admission to anyone who would be willing to interpret for her at Biznik business networking events.

This entry was posted on Friday, September 1st, 2006 at 3:26 pm and is filed under News. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.